Recently aquired 5 inch clown loaches

[GregRM]

Hey all,

So my girlfriend has always wanted clown loaches and after two tank purchases (a 90 and a 75 gallon) and 4 years of dedication to keeping them in primo shape and water quality I ran into what I've been looking for. Big clown loaches that my beloved oscar could not eat. So my goal is to have a tank with 1 oscar, 5 loaches and possibly the other current inhabitants.


I bought without doing the research and have already started to worry about my setup... but have already fallen in love with my 4 4-6 inch clowns and will do as needed. At the same time I'm in love with my oscar so he has to be accomodated.

Got some info with questions. Can anyone comment or provide some advise to my questions?

1. I bought 4 and should have bought 5. I will be correcting that shortly.
2. I have a 90 gallon tank with a 4 foot footprint and I realize I will eventually need a 125-150 gal tank. Anyone think that my new inhabitants already need the upgrade? There still seems to be lots of room for them to swim around. I want to put this off for 6 months or so if at all possible.
3. I have course gravel and need to replace with fine gravel. Any issue with course gravel remaining for 1-2 months? I'm thinking this is something I can fix as early as the weekend.
4. I have added them to my oscar tank and my stocking is now: 1 12 inch oscar (mild mannered for the most part); 1 3-4 inch fat convict; 2 silver dollars and my 4 (soon to be 5) clowns. Should I give away my convict and silver dollars? Anyone advise against having a convict in with the same tank as clowns? I like the idea of the SDs for awhile to distract my Oscar from the clowns in the short term. I have java fern, drift wood. One pipe from the pet store they all hide in at the moment.
5. The clowns have been in the tank for 48 hours without having eaten very much lately. When do I get concerned? I have a variety of clown worthy food. I think they might be a little freaked out as I've been puting in more decor for cover 3-4 times since first introducing them.
6. I've traditionally done a 80% water change once a week. I refil the tank using python and get the temp exactly at 80 when I refill. Is this too much WC at once for the more sensitive clowns?
7. My tank has never had more than 20 nitrate 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite for 4 years strait.
8. Harware: 2 Eheim 2217s; 1 air stone; 1 powerhead; 1 big eheim heater which does a great job.

I'll post pics shortly... if they come out of hiding. Any comments suggestions would be apreciated. Keep in mind a tank upgrade is coming... I'm just hoping I can wait for when I move to a new house in 6-8 months.

Greg

 

[aclockworkorange]

Answers in red

Hey all,

So my girlfriend has always wanted clown loaches and after two tank purchases (a 90 and a 75 gallon) and 4 years of dedication to keeping them in primo shape and water quality I ran into what I've been looking for. Big clown loaches that my beloved oscar could not eat. So my goal is to have a tank with 1 oscar, 5 loaches and possibly the other current inhabitants.


I bought without doing the research and have already started to worry about my setup... but have already fallen in love with my 4 4-6 inch clowns and will do as needed. At the same time I'm in love with my oscar so he has to be accomodated.

Got some info with questions. Can anyone comment or provide some advise to my questions?

1. I bought 4 and should have bought 5. I will be correcting that shortly.
You should buy as many as you can comfortably house... basically the more the merrier, without upsetting your bioload of course. The more you have the more you will see them.
2. I have a 90 gallon tank with a 4 foot footprint and I realize I will eventually need a 125-150 gal tank. Anyone think that my new inhabitants already need the upgrade? There still seems to be lots of room for them to swim around. I want to put this off for 6 months or so if at all possible.
That's fine, but please do upgrade them to a 6 foot tank... the difference in height between 125 and 150 makes no difference to them, try a 180 for the width if you want to go bigger than a 125.
3. I have course gravel and need to replace with fine gravel. Any issue with course gravel remaining for 1-2 months? I'm thinking this is something I can fix as early as the weekend.
Sand is better than either one. They are scaleless and prone to infecting any scratches they get off gravel or tank decor... being bottom dwellers obviously they spend almost all their time in contact with the substrate and this makes a difference. They also love playing in sand.
4. I have added them to my oscar tank and my stocking is now: 1 12 inch oscar (mild mannered for the most part); 1 3-4 inch fat convict; 2 silver dollars and my 4 (soon to be 5) clowns. Should I give away my convict and silver dollars? Anyone advise against having a convict in with the same tank as clowns? I like the idea of the SDs for awhile to distract my Oscar from the clowns in the short term. I have java fern, drift wood. One pipe from the pet store they all hide in at the moment.
The silver dollars as dithers isn't a bad idea... Get the loaches a few pvc pipes from your local hardware store... maybe one pipe for every 1-2 loaches.
5. The clowns have been in the tank for 48 hours without having eaten very much lately. When do I get concerned? I have a variety of clown worthy food. I think they might be a little freaked out as I've been puting in more decor for cover 3-4 times since first introducing them.
They take a long long time to acclimate to a new tank... keep the lights low if you can. If they haven't touched food after a week, try feeding frozen bloodworms stuck directly in the substrate where your other fish can't get it.
6. I've traditionally done a 80% water change once a week. I refil the tank using python and get the temp exactly at 80 when I refill. Is this too much WC at once for the more sensitive clowns?
Well... if your water is soft and your ph bounces all over the place, this might be too much.
7. My tank has never had more than 20 nitrate 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite for 4 years strait.
I'm sure you know clown are sensitive to nitrates. I try not to let mine go over 10.
8. Harware: 2 Eheim 2217s; 1 air stone; 1 powerhead; 1 big eheim heater which does a great job.
Cool.

I'll post pics shortly... if they come out of hiding. Any comments suggestions would be apreciated. Keep in mind a tank upgrade is coming... I'm just hoping I can wait for when I move to a new house in 6-8 months.

Greg

Congrats on the find, I know large clown loaches aren't easy to come by and they are very cool fish. Seems like you are doing your research well. Hopefully my thoughts above helped.

 

[GregRM]

Thanks Aclockworkorange (great film!).

I've done my reseach but there are gaps in between what is suitable for juvis and what is needed for the monsters... I have the fish and setup for the in between stage so the advise helps a lot. I really want this to work out... acceptable and fun tank mates for an Oscar are hard to come by. The SDs are ugly as hell from being chased and banging their snouts against the glass over the last 4 years but serve their purpose well.

My O seems to be adjusting well to their presense. He loves his new powerhead.... soooo much. I thought I was buying it for the loaches but leave it to an O to make it his favorite toy.